RE:Lithium Demand Outstrip Supply until 2023Hey Lithomon,
Myself and possibly other readers are wondering where that 2% of lithium came from ?
Lithium carbonate equivalent and Lithium metal are seperate things and are sometimes misunderstood.
Here is a bit of text taken out of context, but gives a general idea of what I am talking about :
"This infographic includes the suggestion that a Tesla Model S contains “…up to 51 kg of lithium”. Since the largest Model S battery is a P100D with 100 kWh nominal capacity, that would imply a use of about 510 g Li/kWh- all the way up at the high end of Tahil’s estimates. Clearly, the authors here probably confused lithium METAL (Li) with lithium CARBONATE (Li2CO3), which along with lithium hydroxide is the primary material of commerce in the lithium industry- and which is only 18 wt% lithium. Taking that into account, the estimate would be 510*0.18 = 92 g Li in the battery/kWh, which is probably" light. Perhaps this 51 kg of lithium was for a 70 kWh battery? Who knows- no references are given."
There is depending on where you get your info from, between 50 and 150 grams of lithium metal per KW in a lithium battery. Also other numbers going around are 2 to 3 KG of lithium metal in a battery pack. And the ratio from lithium carbonate to lithium metal is around 6 to 1.
So a ton of lithium metal could be worth 120,000 US these days If you are using 2.5 kilos of that it amounts to about 300 bucks. Or if you prefer 2% of a 15,000 dollar battery.